You are here

Man feared drowned on eve of marriage

It should have been a time of joy for British citizen Umar Mohammed as he was supposed to marry his fiancée Abigail Agard today. However, the hand that fate dealt was a tragic one as Agard and his relatives spent yesterday combing the shores of Mayaro, searching for his body after he went missing at sea on Sunday. Mohammed, 34, and Agard, 30, from Cedros, were sea bathing around 11.30 am when Mohammed decided to take a dive. Agard said they were in the rough waters, which reached them at waist height, when a strong wave came rushing toward them and they both dipped under the water. When she resurfaced, Mohammed was nowhere to be found. “The water was rough, I was jumping in the waves and he said he was going for a little swim. A wave came and I dived under to break the wave. “When I came up, I was looking around for him but I could not see him. I came out and I started to scan the beach but I still could not see him at all,” Agard said.

Now panicking, she said she alerted other sea bathers and within minutes, police and coast guardsmen were on the scene. The search continued until nightfall on Sunday and resumed yesterday with no success. Recalling their final moments while on the shore, she said: “We were talking about how happy we were going to live. We were planning to go to Tobago for the honeymoon and we wanted to go back to Tobago for the Jazz Festival.” It was just six months ago after Mohammed came to Trinidad that the two became a couple. Mohammed was staying at his deceased grandmother’s home at Gangaram Branch Road, New Grant. His aunt Zorina Mohammed said tomorrow would have been the Nikah (wedding) but now she was prayerful that his body would be recovered so that they can have his Janazah (funeral). She said: “All of us are making duah for him and begging Allah to make him surface so we can have a proper burial for him. As you know, in Islam, the Janazah is very important.

“He was a very religious person and he would not want to be involved in a relationship if he is not married so he wanted to marry Nikah. “His father was here last week from England and they talked. He met her (Agard) and her parents. I know her very well she is a really nice girl. “They were very good together. They were always laughing, going out together and they were always happy. They really loved each other and he also told me that he loved her a lot.” Zorina said Mohammed had also planned to fulfil the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj and was also learning to read the Qur’an. After the wedding, he was planning to host a Walimah (marriage banquet) later this month before celebrating his February 24 birthday by cooking bharani and sharing it with family and friends. She said Mohammed’s father, Assif Mohammed, was expected back in the country this week.